Ancestry free access??

[TrevorFranklin]

Chatter on some of the 'free deals' sites is that Ancestry.co.uk is going to give free access this weekend.
Subscription payers, be prepared for a malfunctioning site and no compensation again :(

[Punchs mum]

Yes, I had an e mail from them this morning about it. I no longer have a subscription. I think it was only to view census though. Not too sure as I read it through quick!
Even so, I used to get miffed about the free access being offered when I did subscribe. Know how you feel.
Lesley

[Guest]

seems to me not worth getting a sub to any site as there are so many freebies lately

[Olde Crone Holden]

Playing devil's advocate here - perhaps they hope to catch a few people who will take out a paying subscription, rather than getting freebie lookups from paying members!

OC

[Guest]

you would think they would have rules about look ups as I believe FMP has ?

[Christine in Herts]

It's only because someone gave me access to some Ancestry images that I realised the value of a subscription - and signed up. These free weekends and the like are just loss-leaders from their point of view: as OC suggests, they hope that getting free access for a limited time will give some more people a taste for that level of access.

Christine

[Olde Crone Holden]

Val

Well strictly speaking, they DO have rules about doing lookups for other people, but because their database is so huge I suppose it is impossible to police it.

There is one site, which will remain nameless, which bans you for life if it suspects you are doing lookups for other people.

OC

[luddy]

I fail to understand how these sites could decide you are doing lookups for other people , my family tree wanders all over Ireland, Scotland , Wales, USA, Australia, New Zealand and France. So in searching through the records i look up many names & places, so how would they figure the searches were my own or lookups for some one else.

[Caroline]

you would think they would have rules about look ups as I believe FMP has ?

FMP latest Ts and Cs (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/...and-conditions):

What you can use the service for: You can use the website for your own personal use, e.g., to research your own family history. We are also happy for you to help out other people with their family history by telling them about records available on the website and how and where they can be found.

BUT

under Intellectual property rights (including copyright) in the records and services we provide:
You can't use the records to create your own work (for example a database of records, an article, blog post or book), copy or reproduce the records (either in whole or in part), or publish them unless you have our permission (and/or that of the owner of the copyright/database rights in the work) in writing.

[Caroline]

TheGenealogist:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/account/terms/

• Access will be available for one user only (except library subscriptions). Simultaneous access from multiple computers can cause suspension of your account.
• We reserve the right to impose a fair usage limit and the right to suspend the service in cases of misuse.
• Providing a look-up service will cause immediate suspension without refund.
• Those proven to be using our service to provide a look-up service to others will be liable to a charge of £5 per distinct name for which they have searched and £10 for each result viewed.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Caroline

thanks for that. The FMP terms are a bit woolly - I'm not sure whether that first bit means you can tell people their ancestor does indeed appear on the 1861 census but you cannot give the details.

Luddy

At least one site (see Caroline's post #10) does monitor your usage and I have heard of them challenging people to prove their relationship with a given surname etc. It is fairly easy for them to just google a specific name and find a posting on a forum asking for help to find that person.

OC

[TrevorFranklin]

If it is a 'loss leader' to encourage people to subscribe

Then why not offer free accesss for a weekend for those who already have the lower subscriptions etc, to the higher worldwide subscriptions?

[Guest]

I suppose you cannot blame sites for not wanting you to do look ups they must lose a lot of money, Seems like a good idea Trevor I already have that but I might email them and ask about it.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Trevor

I don't currently have an Ancestry sub, but if I did, I wouldn't personally be interested in Worldwide as none of mine ever went abroad! I do take your point, but I think they are more interested in getting a sub than in giving out freebies to those who already pay a sub.

I am as guilty as anyone of asking for lookups, also for doing them when I did have a sub, but I've always been aware that it is a form of stealing if you want to call a spade a spade.

OC

[TrevorFranklin]

My post was in reply to the consideration that free access encourages subscriptions, so why not free access to the higher subscriptions at the same time to encourage upgrades for those who are loyal subscription payers who have to keep putting up with others getting free what we pay for and also systems that get so clogged at these times, we cannot use what we pay for?

[Olde Crone Holden]

My point was that many people are already getting free access via the goodwill of subscribers who do lookups for non-subscribers.

As to why Ancestry don't offer a free upgrade - well, you'll have to ask THEM why, as I don't know.

OC

[Anne in Carlisle]

Re Caroline's post #10
I was recently tempted by a 20% off offer to join that site. I have NEVER regretted an action more. I have NEVER found anything I needed on there which I had not already found on Ancestry or FMP. Personally I couldn't give a ****** if they suspended me for life. There is no place on there to click for non automatic renewal so I'll have to spend time making sure they don't take my money next year. Grrrrrrr! Can you tell I'm cross?
Anne

[Anne in Carlisle]

FMP latest Ts and Cs (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/...and-conditions):


under [/FONT][/COLOR][/I]Intellectual property rights (including copyright) in the records and services we provide:
You can't use the records to create your own work (for example a database of records, an article, blog post or book), copy or reproduce the records (either in whole or in part), or publish them unless you have our permission (and/or that of the owner of the copyright/database rights in the work) in writing.

So presumably we can't make our own spreadsheets of PRs and BMDs or even our own trees, something I do all the time in the process of my research. That's just ridiculous!! Surely researchers in any subject use such records to create their own work. The clue is in the word OWN work! The original piece of work couldn't be done if the records can't be used to do it.
Anne

[Janet in Yorkshire]

So presumably we can't make our own spreadsheets of PRs and BMDs or even our own trees, something I do all the time in the process of my research. That's just ridiculous!! Surely researchers in any subject use such records to create their own work. The clue is in the word OWN work! The original piece of work couldn't be done if the records can't be used to do it.
Anne

The majority of records they provide can be found on other free or subscription sites and all of them, I would think, at various record offices/libraries/collections. They would have a job proving that someone had used their site as the SOLE source of a record, as opposed to an online search to view the usefulness of a record before going off to locate it in a record office.
However, I'd be very careful about reproducing and displaying in public an image I'd taken from the internet (or a record office) - I usually make a transcript of the information.

Jay

[Anne in Carlisle]

Exactly, Jay. I make loads of databases (lists) and the information is obviously available in many, many places. But the FMP conditions do say "You can't use the records to create your own work (for example a database of records, an article, blog post or book)". That, imho, is ridiculous legal speak!
Anne